A $10,000 gift from State Farm Insurance is helping pay for the new Financial Services Lab at the Mississippi College School of Business.

Equipped with stadium seating, plasma screens and a ticker streaming the latest news from Wall Street and foreign exchange and stock markets, the $100,000 financial services classroom is a vital part of a complete makeover for Self Hall costing $1.2 million.

Earlier this week, State Farm agents visited the Clinton campus to present their second installment of the gift that enhances services to MC's nearly 1,000 business students.

"State Farm continues to be a supporter of the School of Business year after year and we are grateful for their commitment to us," said Marcelo Eduardo, the MC business dean. The business school "receives support from both the State Farm Community Program and individual State Farm agents, who have demonstrated their generosity to us throughout the years," he said.

Eduardo expressed his gratitude to the company for all they've done to make critical improvements to the School of Business.

State Farm agents Neil King and Cindy Ringler of Clinton were among those on hand to present the check. They were back on familiar turf. King is a 1959 MC School of Business graduate. Ringler received an MC degree in speech pathology in 1983 before getting a master's degree and going into the insurance business.

Ringler is giving high marks to the series of changes to bring the latest technology to Self Hall. It can't hurt when it comes to recruiting new students, she said.

"Any students just coming out of high school and community college would be real impressed with the facilities at MC. It's important for students to have the latest financial news," Ringler said when reached at her office Friday. "I'm glad State Farm has chosen to make the contributions."

Home of the MC School of Business for the past 45 years, Self Hall is undergoing a three phase renovation. The first two phases are done. The work should be finished in August 2008.

The new gift from State Farm to boost the Financial Services Lab adds to other major donors to the project including Merrill Lynch, Citi Group, Fox Everett and Eddie Kinchen. Courses in MC's new Finance MBA will be taught in the lab. The program should attract people in banking, financial planning, investing and financial management.

The School of Business at Mississippi College continues to grow and turn out top-quality graduates. Reports show there are more than 2,500 MC business alumni alone in metro Jackson, many of whom hold leadership positions. The MBA program at MC is the largest in the capital city area.

PHOTO (left-right): Neil King, Dr. Marcelo Eduardo, and Cindy Ringler

Contact Andy Kanengiser, University News Coordinator, at 601.925.7760 or at kanengis@mc.edu.